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Last Tuesday evening, my friend Bill Wilson, president of the Hill’s Fort Society, telephoned to remind me that I had promised him a list of War of 1812 veterans buried in Fayette County.

This sounded like something I would do, and the fact that Bill needed it for a talk on Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Society’s “Living History Days” in Greenville, spurred me to begin my research right then and there.

Last Tuesday evening, my friend Bill Wilson, president of the Hill’s Fort Society, telephoned to remind me that I had promised him a list of War of 1812 veterans buried in Fayette County.

This sounded like something I would do, and the fact that Bill needed it for a talk on Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Society’s “Living History Days” in Greenville, spurred me to begin my research right then and there.

As construction work advances down Gallatin Street, the rebirth of Vandalia’s downtown is becoming more apparent each day. Much of the underground infrastructure work is now complete, and workers are preparing to pour the second block of concrete street surface.

There’s a lot to be excited about as a new and improved downtown Vandalia gradually takes shape.

In his life outside his duties as a state senator, Kyle McCarter is a businessman. And he plans to keep his business ties to remind himself that his votes as a senator have a real-world impact on the state's businesses.

It's a perspective some of his fellow legislators apparently have forgotten.

The late Dr. George Ross published a history column in The Centralia Sentinel newspaper, and from time-to-time my friend, Emory Meador, would hand me an envelope stuffed with some of Dr. Ross’ articles that he thought would interest me.

One of these was a compiled list of 42 Marion County inventors. I came across this list the other day and thought to myself, if Marion County has 42 inventors, then so does Fayette County.

Though teachers and coaches have a unique opportunity to influence young people, few have done the job as well as Edward W. Mills.

For 65 years, he worked in either a full-time or part-time capacity as a teacher, coach or volunteer at area schools. He began teaching at Vandalia High School in 1946, after serving in World War II. He taught general science and biology, but he also coached a number of sports and served as the basketball scorekeeper for 50 years

“War, like the thunderbolt, follows its laws and turns not aside even if the beautiful, the virtuous and the charitable stand in its path.”

– Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

These are the words that came to mind Friday afternoon when I first saw the fallen "capital" oak, its trunk splintered as it lay on the ground in the Old State Burial Ground in Vandalia, a victim of the strong storms that passed through two weeks ago.